Finding a roommate can be a great challenge. People lead very different lives and have very different upbringings. Begin your roommate journey with intention. The first step is to decide what you yourself seek from this important relationship. Then take it from there. Roommate relationships are a life-changing matter. It is a very personal problem requiring a personal solution.
RoomMatch.com is one of the preferred websites of use for people seeking roommates in cities like LA, San Diego, and Seattle. These cities suffer from sky-high rent prices. That is why prnewswire reports that 50% of adults in Los Angeles live with a roommate in their article about more adults living with roommates today than ever before. Americans making the national median income can expect to pay about 30% of their monthly income on rent.
Now that you know what you want, it is time to actually find a house or apartment.
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RoomMatch
These industry leaders have been connecting people with housing resources for years. RoomMatch provides a unique match-up quiz where roommates provide their interests and lifestyle which RoomMatch users to show you your match percent before needing to contact anyone.
Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago have some of the country’s most expensive rent. It is for this reason so many choose to live accompanied or work from abroad.
For those who choose to live with roommates, RoomMatch is a solid place to start looking.
Their website has an easy-to-use interface and is absolutely free.
This website prevents, tracks, and blocks scammers. This means you can scroll in peace unlike more traditional roommate compilers like Craigslist. Users that are repeatedly downvoted are taken off the site, so you can also expect quality as well as quantity
RoomMatch has wide-ranging prices. The room rentals in LA are reasonably priced with the ability to find many options in the $700+ range.
Craigslist
Craigslist is not a friendly online environment for noobs or gullible people. Approach Craigslist knowing it is the Wild Wild West. Honestly, Craigslist is about as close as you can get to the dark web without a tor browser. A healthy dollop of common sense is highly encouraged.
Nevertheless, its legendary status and goodwill can’t be denied.
This legendary website was founded in the mid-90s by Craig Newmark, who made it his mission to “humanize” the internet. When it was first launched, it was based on traditional flea markets. The key difference Craig wanted to instill between his website and the Amazons of the world is the gritty, emotional, physical reality of a market.
The flea market isn’t just where you go to get a bag of rice. It’s where you see your neighbors, extended family, and a place for casual encounters and missed connections.
NPR calls Craigslist “remarkable for its stability in a world of constant tweaking and testing.”
Anybody can post pretty much anything on Craigslist, including lonely people looking for love and sadomasochists looking for … whatever it is they want. That is the website’s greatest strength and also its greatest weakness.
Frequently asked questions
You might not speak with 99% of your 3,000 Facebook friends regularly, but they do still count, in a way. Mine this social capital for roommates! Some people go so far as to release small campaigns on Facebook looking for a roommate they actually have some connection with rather than just a rando.
Another cool thing about this strategy is that you can adjust the demographics and get really specific. Most adults with Facebook today made their account at least five years ago. This means you can find a ton of dirt on your future roommie. We wouldn’t want to just trust blindly, would we?
Stalk with care. You’ll be living alongside the roommie of your dreams in no time.
Airbnb
Aside from providing a direct “roommate matching” service, you can use Airbnb creatively to connect with people in your city at events.
Everybody looks for somebody with a reliable check at the end of the month, but some might also seek a new drinking buddy. Or perhaps you are just trying to find someone to show you the interesting local joints in a new city you just moved into.
Sometimes, roommate-seekers are put in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between living with a friend that can’t pay the expected rent or a stranger who can.
Airbnb is a great compromise between these two options.
It is a diverse place on the web with millions of properties and tons of host styles. It provides safety, accountability, and fun in exchange for a price bump on your rent that can reach about 14% according to Airbnb.com.
